Tide softball faces Bulldogs, former coach

By Tommy DeasExecutive Sports Editor

Friday

Mar 30, 2012 at 12:40 AM

Patrick Murphy has gone through it before. For Vann Stuedeman, this will be the first time.Murphy, the University of Alabama’s softball coach, went head-to-head with a former colleague for years when Yvette Girouard was at LSU. This weekend, Murphy will face off with longtime assistant Stuedeman, now head coach at Mississippi State.

Patrick Murphy has gone through it before. For Vann Stuedeman, this will be the first time.Murphy, the University of Alabama’s softball coach, went head-to-head with a former colleague for years when Yvette Girouard was at LSU. This weekend, Murphy will face off with longtime assistant Stuedeman, now head coach at Mississippi State.Stuedeman was UA’s pitching coach for 11 seasons and played a major part in guiding the Crimson Tide to six Women’s College World Series appearances. When Murphy left to take the head coaching job at LSU last June (ironically, replacing the retired Girouard) — then changed his mind to return to Alabama — he decided to not retain Stuedemann. Shortly thereafter, she was named to head the MSU program some 90 miles away.Stuedeman doesn’t want this weekend’s series to be personal.“I have great respect for their program, but it’s about Mississippi State. It’s not about me. It’s about our girls and our athletes,” Stuedemann said. “I’m trying to coach process over outcome and no emotion involved, so it’s not fair for me to focus on my emotions when I’m asking the girls to focus on the process.“Leadership is more about do as I do and not as I say. It’s important that I do what I ask of them.”Murphy knows there will be an undercurrent of emotion.“The first couple of times are rough,” Murphy said, drawing from his experience coaching against Girouard, “but then it becomes another opponent, really. It will be difficult at first, but after that it will be Mississippi State vs. Alabama.”The ties between the two programs go deeper than the head coaches. Former UA pitcher Kelsi Dunne is a graduate assistant with the Bulldogs. MSU assistant coach Alan Reach coached current UA outfielder Jazlyn Lunceford at Tuscaloosa County High and is the brother of former Alabama shortstop Jennifer Reach.Murphy has seen immediate improvement in the Bulldogs in Stuedeman’s first season.“They beat Georgia and (lost to) Florida 1-0, played them really tough,” Murphy said. “We’re happy for her. She was 11 years with us and she took a lot with her.”Stuedeman expects a lot of friends from Tuscaloosa and a lot of Alabama fans to make the short trek to Starkville for the series.“I think it will be a lot of fun,” she said. “Alabama travels well with their fan base. We’ve had a lot of fans at our games. I expect our community to come out and support us. I look for a great atmosphere for college softball.”UA pitcher Lauren Sewell underwent knee surgery this week and is out for the season after sustaining an injury last weekend. Murphy said Lunceford was held out of the Auburn midweek doubleheader for precautionary reasons after she was injured in practice. She could return to the lineup this weekend.

Reach Tommy Deas at tommy@tidesports.com or at 205-722-0224.

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